The rock guitar hero, who plays here Thursday at the Balboa Theatre, credits the Rolling Stones singer for jump-starting his career

At 57, Satriani still has some dazzling new tricks up his sleeve — or, to be more specific, up his incisors.

“When I see young performers going over the top, trying to impress their audience, I think: ‘Well, now is the time to do it,” Satriani said. “Better when you’re 20, than when you’re 50. If you get a chance to light your guitar on fire, jump around and play too many notes, you gotta check it out.”

“I’m guilty of everything, except setting my instrument on fire. I played with my teeth on the first leg of this tour. I came back home and my dentist said: ‘Are you nuts?’”

Satriani was still in his teens when he began working as a guitar teacher. One of his first students was Steve Vai, who went on to work with Zappa (and who later hired Keneally to be in his own band). Satriani's other students have included Charlie Hunter, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Primus’ Larry LaLonde and Testament’s Alex Skolnick.

But some of the essentials of Satriani's guitar concepts and aesthetic approach stem from his own days as a student, not with another guitarist, but with jazz piano legend Lennie Tristano.

"There were plenty of things he taught me that were basic truths of musicianship," Satriani recalled. "Like: 'Admit what you don't know, and get to work knowing it.' With musicians, that usually (entails) a lot of stuff that's incredibly tedious, like learning the name of every note, on every string, on every fret, on your instrument. No guitar player wants to go down that road; they just want to be a great guitar player by ear, which is every guitar player's preferred route, because it requires no work.

"Learning every scale on guitar, harmonized in every way, is absolutely heartbreaking, because it requires months and months of hours and hours of playing. This is the kind of thing that doesn't show up when you're rehearsing with your band or playing shows. No one will pat you on your back, and say: 'I bet you know how to do B-flat minor, harmonized, in seconds.' There's no reward for that, except you become such a solid player. But it's difficult to pick up.

"I would hint to my students that this is a good road to go down, so don't worry about solving it at the end of a week. With regards to vibrato, Lenny told me: 'When you go to play a note, try playing it perfectly in time, first. And, at that moment decide if you want to put vibrato on it and then decide, instead of your finger always shaking.' That's one of those funny things, because most players aren't aware of their little stylistic ticks. They forget how many of their licks belong to (Steve) Vai, (Stevie Ray) Vaughan, and every other great guitar player named Steve!

"Part of it is, that -- as amateurs and young professionals --we make a good living playing like other people. It pays for food and rent. If we're very lucky enough to have an audience and get interviewed, it's about: 'How original are you?' And how do you do that? How do you become original, when you're copying Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton?